Table of Contents:
LESS ANCIENT
GOLD.
A RISING SUN ON THE HORIZON
ALASKA TODAY.
ADDITIONAL READING.
ALASKA DESTINATIONS.
I love Alaska, and sometimes, I don’t want to share it, and I certainly do not want it to change. I remember when Juneau got its first traffic light. And unfortunately, its first golden arches. I remember a busy day in Ketchikan meant one small Princess ship and one small Holland America ship. That was like 2,000 passengers all at the same time.
Today, 4-5 ships, each carrying 3000+ is the norm. Global tourist shopping companies have come in, pushing many of the local merchants off the main street.
The good news is, you do not visit Alaska for the port areas or shopping.
You go for the scenery. Here, you can view mile after mile of beautiful nature with no blemishes or scars.
You go for the potential wildlife sightings. With millions of acres to roam, its a beautiful home to animals. Ones that fly in the air walk on the ground or swim in the water.
And the Other Inhabitants.
And I love the people. I have had the opportunity to work and play with people from Fairbanks to Ketchikan. They certainly are part of my Alaska Memories. They do ordinary things just like you and me.
Yes, Eskimos live north of the Arctic Circle, but not all people in Alaska are Eskimos. They live in real houses. Attend blueberry festivals and have Friday night high school football game, just like real people. True, some places have to go to the store via floatplane, boat, or snowmobile. But other than that, they’re like other Americans.
I say this because every week, people would ask me to describe Alaskans. I would ask where they had their home. My response would be, they are very much like people from your town/state. And to answer another question, I would get too many times every cruise, Yes, they take American currency in Alaska.
Ancient Alyeska.
Alaska may be one of the youngest United States, joining the lower 48 in 1959, but its history is ancient. Going back to around 14,000 B.C., groups began following animals (food) from Asia. But Asia is on the other side of the Pacific. Back then, Asia and North America were one body of land.
Some scientists believe the Bering Land Bridge was connecting Asia with North America at that time. As the continents begin to drift, the land bridge sinks beneath the Chukchi and Bering Seas’ waters. Others believe that during the glacial epoch, the ocean levels fell enough to expose the land bridge. But most agree that the people of western Alaska and eastern Siberia have much in common biologically.
Some migrate south. Those remaining in the Alaska area break into different tribes. Eventually, there are distinct first people tribes. They include the Ancient Beringian, Alaskan Athabaskans, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eskimo, Iñupiat, Yupik, and Aleut.
Over the years, they acclimate to the climate and environment and develop their own cultures and languages.
The name “Alaska” comes from the Aleut word Alaxsxaq or Alyeska, which means the “mainland.”
The Russians are Coming.
The Russians, expanding eastward, reach the Pacific Coast of Asia in 1639. In less than 100 years, they over-hunt Siberia, depleting its fur-bearing mammals. Emperor Peter the Great orders navigator Vitus Bering to explore the North Pacific in 1725 for new mammals populations. Bering finds thick fog and ice and has to turn back. Aleksei Chirikov finally reaches the North American mainland by 1741.
They quickly develop the fur trade, which creates conflict with the Aleuts. The Russians then lay claim to Alaska in 1784, establish the first permanent Russian settlement. It is on Three Saints Bay on the south shore of Kodiak Island. They would soon move it to the north shore where present-day Kodiak sits.
By 1794, Eastern Orthodox missionaries began to arrive, evangelizing the Native Americans, and converting many to Christianity.
In 1799, the Czar set up his own company, the Russian-American Company (RAC). He appoints Alexander Baranov as the first Chief Manager. Baranov moves the capital of Russian America from Kodiak to Novoarkhangelsk (today’s Sitka) by 1804. They force the Alutiiq and Aleut men to work for the company because of their hunting expertise.
How Not to be a Welcome Guest.
They over-harvest sea otters and other fur-bearing animals, many sacred to the locals. They push against the Tlingit tribes of southeast Alaska, and the Tlingit push back. In June of 1802, Tlingit warriors destroy the original settlement of Novoarkhangelsk, killing most of the Russians.
Baranov returns in August 1804 with a large force and naval gunboat. The Battle of Sitka lasts for two days before the Tlingit surrender. Baranov builds New Archangel and installs more than 30 cannons to ward off future attacks. The two groups live in a fragile peace.
The Russian trapping empire continues to grow, eventually building seventeen settlements in Alaska alone. Their southernmost outpost, Fort Ross, is in today’s Sonoma County, California. They commission boats that trap as far south as the Baja California peninsula.
You’ve Got a Friend.
Russian Father Ioann Veniaminov sets off to the island of Unalaska, arriving in 1824. He begins studying the local languages and dialects. He also trains some of his parishioners in Russian building techniques. They construct the Holy Ascension Church. His parish includes several other islands that he would paddle to in a canoe. During his travels, he became familiar with the local dialects. He then creates an alphabet for the most widely used dialect, the Aleut’s Unangan. By 1828, he is translating portions of the Bible and other church material into Unangan. He journeys to the Alaskan mainland and preaches to the people there.
The church transfers him to New Archangel circa 1834. He immediately devotes himself to the Tlingit people and begins to learn their language and customs. He begins writing books in Russian, documenting the Indigenous people he has met, their customs, and their dialects.
In 1840, he became a monk after his wife dies. He takes the name of Innocent, in honor of the Saint with the same name. In December, the church consecrates him Bishop of the Russian islands of Kamchatka and Kuril Islands in Russia. His see also includes the Aleutian Islands in Russian America. He returns to New Archangel around September 1841. There, he spends the next nine years administering his diocese. He continues his missionary journeys into remote areas.
The church elevates him to Archbishop and enlarges his diocese in Russia. He relocates to the town of Yakutsk in Siberia. He will later become the Metropolitan (Bishop) of Moscow and all of Russia.
The Russian Orthodox Church declares him a saint (1977), with the title “Enlightener of the Aleuts, Apostle to America.”
Get Rid of It.
By the mid-1800s, the sea otter, bears, wolves, and foxes in Russia America are almost extinct. So are the First Native people. Exposure to European diseases and violence is responsible for wiping out 85% of their population.
In 1856, Russia was reeling in debt from the Crimean War. Profits from Alaska are dropping. European competition and unrest, from the remaining First Native people, are rising. Russia can no longer afford Russia-America.
Emperor Alexander II sells Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million in 1867. Many indigenous people protest, arguing that they are the rightful owners, not Russia.
There is grumbling in the lower 48 states as well. The country is recovering from its civil war and does not understand the need to purchase all this unusable land. Their murmurs end in the 1890s.
There’s Gold in Them There Hills.
Following the Alaska purchase in 1867, the only Americans with interest in Alaska are some prospectors, trappers, and traders.
It is not until 1880 when others begin taking notice. Prospectors Joe Juneau and Richard Harris find gold near modern-day Juneau.
The next big strike is along the Forty Mile River in 1886 and on the Kenai Penninsula two years later. Smaller hits continue, and prospectors continue to trickle north to Alaska and the Upper Yukon in Canada.
In 1896 word comes that the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon has gold just sitting in it. Over the next three years, more than 100,000 men and a few women stampede to the Yukon. The bad news is that the prospectors already in the area have claims everywhere by the time they get there. What does this have to do with Alaska? To get to the Yukon, they had to pass through Alaska. Towns like Ketchikan and Juneau grew overnight. New settlements went up overnight, and many would disappear as quickly. One left standing was Skagway’s new town, at the trailhead through the White Pass to the Yukon.
As the Yukon strike is fizzling out, they discover gold in Nome on the Bering Sea.
Pedro Felix finds gold on his claim. The year is 1902. Word gets out, and people descend on the area. Today, it is Fairbanks, and it is one of the few places where they still mine gold today.
The Sparkle Begins to Dim.
There are only two more gold rushes, one in 1909 near Iditarod and The Chisana stampede beginning in 1913. Few struck it rich in Alaska outside of large mining companies. The biggest winner was the state itself. The search for gold would create railroads, regional transportation networks, supporting industries, and whole towns. Many of the men and women who came to Alaska would stay in Alaska.
The gold fever fades. When World War II hits, most of the mines still in operation close due to a lack of workers and resources.
Taxation without Representation.
Congress passes the Criminal Code of 1899, which, among other things, includes a tax on liquor. In the District of Alaska, that’s a significant pastime. As a district, they have no representation in Congress to fight it.
The debate goes on until 1912, when Congress makes Alaska an incorporated territory of the United States.
But they are still not equal.
Congress then passes the Jones Act of 1920. Somewhere in its hundreds of pages, it says all goods entering or leaving Alaska must be on an American carrier. The real twist of the knife is that everything must come and go through Seattle. Alaska is dependent on the state of Washington.
But the U.S. Constitution states that one state should not hold sway over another’s commerce. The U.S. Supreme Court backs the Congress by saying Alaska is only a territory. Seattle shippers immediately raise their prices.
Alaska From A Different Perspective.
World War II began in September 1939. The United States will not enter it for two years.
But that does not mean Alaska (particularly the Anchorage area) was not taking precautions before 1941. Relations between Japan and the United States were deteriorating by the late 1930s. Strategists began to recognize Alaska’s strategic importance in the North Pacific. The advancements in aviation since WWI are substantial. Planes will play a more significant part in future conflicts. Alaska was along the shortest route between Japan and the west coast states.
The defense concept was to build forward bases and use air power to defend Alaska and the North Pacific area. Army garrisons would protect the airbases. From 1939 through 1942, they make new airfields and navy bases at Sitka, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor.
They dig a tunnel to Whittier and build a port there. They build defenses at Seward and connect both of these ports with improvements to the Alaska Railroad. These ports are Alaska’s lifelines to the lower 48 states.
In Anchorage, they build Fort Richardson, an army base, and Elmendorf Army Air Base. They also create numerous staging fields throughout Alaska. They increase the number of military personnel to 34,000 by the fall of 1939.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers build around 1,200 miles of new roads. These connect the new bases with harbors, railroads, and other installations.
They are transferring aircraft to the Soviet Union to defend against Germany on the eastern front to the north.
The War Comes Home.
Then on December 7, 1941, the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. America is in the war.
They begin building a military road connecting Alaska to the rest of North America. It takes them seven months to construct the 1700 miles of pavement. The first version is rough, dangerous, and only accessible to military traffic. Later they will improve the road and open it to civilian drivers.
In June of 1942, Japan attacks another US location, Dutch Harbor, in Alaska. While diverting the military’s gaze, they land on Kiska and nearby Attu Island in the Aleutian chain. They capture the United States Navy weather station on the island, killing two sailors in the process. The other eight go to camps in Japan.
To the United States, it is a slap in the face. It is the first time a foreign power occupies American soil since the Brits in 1812. It will take a year to get the islands back.
Once in the war, the number of military personnel in Alaska will swell to nearly 300,000. Alaska’s civilian population, many supporting the military, almost doubles to 139.000 by 1945.
At the end of the war, Anchorage is now the largest city in Alaska and an economic powerhouse.
The Forty-Ninth Star.
1959 begins with Alaska finally receiving U.S. statehood. The population and economy continue to grow at a gradual pace.
Then in 1968, they discover oil at Prudhoe Bay, and Alaska’s economy soars. They complete the Trans-Alaska Pipeline between Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.
By 1977, oil is flowing. Alaska enjoys an oil boom. The 800-mile pipeline is 48 inches in diameter, allowing the oil to move at about 5.5 miles per hour. It takes almost six days to travel to Valdez. Today, Alaska provides close to 25% on the US oil requirements.
Alaska Today.
Standing on the pier in any cruise port, you would think tourism is Alaska’s primary industry. You would be wrong.
The oil and gas industry is by far the most significant component of Alaska’s economy. Almost 85 percent of the state budget comes from oil revenues. In 1976, the state set up an account for Alaska residents to share in the investment earnings on Alaskan mineral royalties. Each year, over 600,000 residents receive a check for their portion of the fees. This annual check usually puts a few thousand dollars into their pockets.
Alaska has the lowest taxes in the U.S. and does not have a statewide sales tax. The cost of living in cities and towns can be fairly reasonable. However, before you start packing your bags to move there, add this in. The cost dramatically jumps if you want to live outside a populated area. Now a floatplane or boat becomes your only source of transportation. Even a simple trip to the store becomes much more expensive due to fuel.
Tourism attracts well over one million visitors annually. That makes tourism Alaska’s second-largest primary employer.
Alaska has more coastline than the rest of the United States put together. The waters are full of freshwater fish and seafood. The fishing industry catches nearly 6 billion pounds of seafood yearly.
Alaska is the world’s number one producer of wild salmon. It is the only salmon industry in the world that the Marine Stewardship Council certifies as sustainable.
Other Contributions to the Economy.
Alaska has more than 127 million acres of forest. Twenty-eight million of these acres are for commercial foresting, supplying the world markets with lumber, pulp, and other products.
Private gold claims are still finding small amounts of gold. The most popular mining in Alaska today is coal. Alaska has half of the countries reserves. Silver and zinc mines are also adding to the economy.
There are around 1 million acres of land currently in use for farming. Farming in Alaska is a little different than in many places. The seasons are shorter, but the hours of daylight are longer. The additional sun produces vegetables of extraordinary size. In the Matanuska Valley outside Anchorage, they often grow single cabbages over 60 pounds. They had one over 90 pounds.
Alaska the Beautiful.
Alaska is home to a beautiful UNESCO World Heritage site.
Kluane/Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatshenshini-Alsek is a combination of glaciers, mountains, and forests along the border between Canada and Alaska. In addition to the incredible natural landscapes, there are potential wildlife sightings of eagles, brown bears,
caribou Dall’s sheep, and more.
You need to experience Alaska.
Additional Reading
Alaska Destinations.
NORTH
Barrow
Arctic Circle
CENTRAL.
Denali
Talkeetna
SOUTH.
Girdwood
Seward
SOUTHEAST.
Glacier Bay